Affiliations

Salivary Gland Development and Regeneration

The secretory glands of the head and neck, which are responsible for tears, saliva, and protection of the nasal mucosa, are acutely sensitive to insults posed by radiation treatment or autoimmune diseases, such as Sjogren’s syndrome. For the large number of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year, there are currently no effective means to successfully prevent, or to repair, the damage caused to these glands by radiation treatment. The long-range goal of our work is to establish therapeutic strategies for the repair or regeneration of these damaged secretory glands.